THE WAR AT HOME (45)

Directed by: Emilio Estevez

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Kathy Bates, Martin Sheen, Kimberly Williams

The Pitch: Texas, 1972 : a young Vietnam vet, back in his parents' house, finds life with his ragingly dysfunctional family increasingly impossible.

Theo Sez: A king-size Guilty Pleasure, though only if you take it as seriously as it takes itself : it plays like a (very) cut-price "Long Day's Journey into Night", or perhaps like the hysterically overwrought diary of some disaffected middle-class teen (our hero may be a Vietnam vet, but his problems - being treated like a child, finding it hard to communicate with his parents - are best appreciated by those viewers still negotiating high-school). The characters - solid Texan Dad, big on Honour and Duty ("It's my house and I make the rules!") ; neurotic-nag, borderline-insane Mom ("Ah wasn't screaming - just using mah loud voice") ; weak, "sensitive" psychology-major kid sister ("You hate me. Don't you?") - are so exactly what you'd expect they seem invested with a special weight, the three Pillars of Family Dysfunction ; when they all start cracking up, slamming doors and screaming at each other, it's terrible but fascinating, a weird primeval soap-opera. Its lack of sophistication is actually what makes it bearable : it's a painfully sincere movie, full of coarse-grained, deeply-felt rage - which is why it can get to you, as long as you let it. After all, nothing's quite so juicy as listening in on other people's family crises.